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Friday, September 11, 2009

The Friday Fix: Slack Chain or Bent Axle?

After Friday's commute, the creaking in my drive train prompted me to take a closer look at what was going on. It turns out the threading in one of the chain ring bolts was stripped, which made the ring just loose enough to cause all the bolts to loosen and thus the creaking sound I was hearing. I decided to switch to a more conventional ratio, 42:15 and thanks to Robert at Fe700c Bicyles in Logan, Utah who hooked me up with a Sugino CSSII (Compact Super Shifter) crankset, switched it over the weekend.

While I haven't road tested it yet, while on the stand I noticed, after getting the proper amount of tension, and the turning the cranks that there is a little bit of slack perhaps in the chain that is causing it to osciliate up and down. I am not sure if these pictures do it justice but the picture above shows no slack. Below, the pictures shows a slight amount on top.

And finally it's tight again. This is really baffling. The only other think that I can think of is perhaps the axle is slightly bent that could be causing this. I will have to take the chain off and see if that is the case.

After taking these pictures, I shot a little video that I think will help show what is happening here: